Syrian blogger and web developerAnas Maarawiis the latest online activist to have been detained in a series of arrests sweeping Syria. Detained on July 1 in Damascus, news of Maarawi’s arrest did not emerge until later in the week, and since then, a Facebookpagehas been created, campaigning for his release. The page has already attracted over 1,800 members. Maarawi is well known in the Middle Eastern open source community, particularly for his efforts in foundingArdroid, the first Arabic blog dedicated to the Android operating system....

We were first on the scene a couple of months back when Googleannounceda new interface for its Blogger platform. And today, we bring you news that Google has finallylaunchedits new design for Blogger. Google is planning a gradual roll-out over the next few days that will start with a restricted number of users. Google says that is has “essentially rewritten the entire application from scratch, using the latest web technologies that will enable us to make future updates in more agile and flexible ways....

Blogger.comnow have a new tool in their ever-growing arsenal. Dynamic Views –a Chrome Extension that aids in the new Blogger experience. Last week Googleannouncedfive exciting new ways to view your blog content, which take advantage of the latest web technologies to provide a richer experience for your readers. Blogger users can already see these views in action by appending/viewto the end of any Blogger URL, but today we’re happy to announce another way to experience these views via the Blogger Dynamic ViewsChrome extension....

With the Arab Spring sweeping the region, from Tunisia to Bahrain, one country which has remained relatively immune to any form of protests is Saudi Arabia. What few attempts have been made in the struggle for freedom of speech have been swiftly quashed. The latest blow comes in the form of the arrest of human rights activist, Fadhil Makki al-Manasif, and bloggers Mustafa al-Badr Al Mubarak and Husain Kazhim al-Hashim. Human Rights Watch reported that the 27 year old activist al-Manasif was arrested on May 1 for his participation in peaceful demonstrations, an activity outlawed in Saudi Arabia....

BlogyMate, a new blogging platform based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), takes its cue from existing platforms LiveJournal and Tumblr, to create something of a hybrid. The team behind BlogyMate is an internationalgroupof UAE residents, all of whom are active users on the platform themselves. Part social network, part blog, BlogyMate is probably one of the easiest blogging platforms out there. There is no elaborate set up – simply sign up for a free account and you’re ready to start sharing your thoughts with the BlogyMate community, and the world....